


The Head is too Wise (The Heart is all Fire)

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Author just wants the band back together, Authors financing knowledge isn't great, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Open Ending, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Reconciliation, Sort of? - Freeform, a little understanding goes a long way, friendly to everyone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 15:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11992821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: When he doesn’t respond, Hank continues.“I had my issues with Howard, as I’m sure you know,” he says with a scowl, hands tightening where they’re holding onto the edge of the piano. He doesn’t sound angry, at least not that Steve can hear, but Steve recognizes the careful restraint being put in by Dr.Pym to not insult Howard. It’s the same way Tony would speak about Howard, with the same edge in his voice that spoke of underlying resentment. Howard just had that effect on people.Hank uncurls his hands, and moves to sit on the piano bench, still not taking his eyes away from Steve.“But Maria…” He gives a small smile at this, “Maria had been a dream.”(Or, Hank Pym offers Steve some insight. It goes a long way.)





	The Head is too Wise (The Heart is all Fire)

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by RDJ saying he thought of Maria as an "Ivy League rebel."
> 
> Title belongs to Maggie Stiefvater.

It's not so much that Steve hated these events. It’s just that the champagne flute in his hand carries more weight with the Avengers insignia stamped on the glass than his shield does in the field. He hadn’t even asked for the glass, so much as it had been forced upon him, and every other member of his team, as soon as they arrived at the venue. Steve wasn’t trying to be ungrateful, he’s sure the champagne was expensive as well as the gift bags waiting by the exit, and if his shaking was anything to go by the young man (If Steve had to guess, hired waitstaff who couldn’t have been more than twenty, the bowtie and vest looking just as constricting on the boy as Steve’s own suit felt on him) was just as unexcited to hand Steve the drink he was now carrying as Steve was to receive it.

  
Steve understands the necessity of these events. He really does. Ever since returning from Wakanda, with the threat of Thanos looming over them, and signing the Accords (newly amended and now so long that it took weeks with a seemingly endless stream of lawyers to understand), public image had become a priority for the team. Steve doesn't really feel that his team should have to prove themselves anymore than they already have to the public. Saving the world,and countless lives, time and time again should be enough. Regardless, the future of the Avengers, i.e. their funding, now hedged on what the people thought of them.

  
That had been one of the many things that had changed since they returned. After the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. they’d still had the blanket of Stark Industries to fall back on, but after everything that had gone down, and so publicly at that, neither Tony nor Pepper could convince the board of S.I. to continue funding the heroes that were now considered a risk to the company’s image. Tony could’ve gone into his own pocket to back the team, but the Accords tied his hands. Seeing as he was a member of the team, if he were to provide them with any monetary support it would be considered a conflict of interest. The team had discussed asking Tony to step down. Iron Man was mostly retired these days anyways, and while they needed bodies in the field, they needed financial support just as much. Steve quickly shut that idea down, though. If anything were to happen again, something like Thanos, they would need the genius to fight by their side. Besides, and this Steve hadn’t said to the team, Tony was still one of their own.Unfortunately, however, this left the team at the mercy of countless shareholders buying stock in them (or, more accurately, in their merchandising-everything from clothes, to toys, to kitchen appliances with their faces on it). Some of which who had seemed all too eager to invest. Steve rubbed at his temple with his free hand. These events always served to remind him of how much had really been lost at the cost of their feud.

  
“Hey man, you doing okay?”

  
Steve sighed as Sam spoke to the right of him and clapped him on the shoulder. His eyes swept across the room. They were in the ballroom of a hotel in upstate New York. Susan, Steve’s personal Accords Liaison (they had all been assigned one, in accordance with a U.N. request that the lines of communication between the Avengers and themselves be as open as possible, for everybody’s comfort), had told him the goal in choosing this venue had been to keep them close to the compound. But looking around, it didn’t escape Steve’s notice how swanky the place was. From the high ceiling a large diamond chandelier hung, giving a shine to the dim glow of the room. From the stage in the front of the room, a live band was softly playing songs even Steve recognized as _older_ with non-committal lyrics that were drowned out anyhow by the chatter going on in the rest of the room. Based on how well dressed everybody was, Steve couldn’t tell the difference between the business people in the room and the reporters. He didn’t know who in the room he was supposed to tell nothing to and who in the room he was supposed to tell just enough to.

  
Taking a sip from his glass, Steve nodded at Sam. “Things just used to be easier, is all.”

He didn’t need to say more, Sam just patted him on the back and started leading him to the other side of the room where the rest of their team had unconsciously clustered together. That had always been the beauty of his friendship with Sam, that understanding passed so easy between them.When they first met, Steve had been amazed by how seamlessly Sam fit into his life, and him into Sam’s .After waking up S.H.I.E.L.D. had given Steve a purpose, but had never completely eased the loneliness that came with being a man out of time. Meeting Sam had been not only a comfort but a reassurance that there was a place for Steve even in this modern time. Steve would be forever grateful that his friend had stuck by him through so much.

  
As they got closer, Steve could see the tension in Wanda as well. Her arms were crossed and she was hugging herself tight, clinging to the cover up around her shoulders, and seemingly hoping she would disappear despite the bright purple of her dress causing her to stand out. Standing close to her was Clint, sipping fast from his own champagne glass and half heartedly nodding at Scott who was talking animatedly, as Steve’s enhanced hearing picked up, about his daughter.

  
Steve was glad that Scott hadn’t burned any bridges by joining them. He wouldn’t have been able to stand it if Scott had lost his own family because of them. It wasn’t easy, from what Scott had told them. There had been a lot of groveling involved when he returned, not only with his ex-wife and his daughter, but with Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne as well. Ant-Man had proved himself to be an asset to the team in the field, but Dr.Pym and Hope had not been thrilled about him going rogue with their technology. They forgave, eventually, accepting his insolence as another, slightly less endearing, quirk of Scott’s personality.Things had no doubt been getting better for Scott since working things out with them, and while he fit right in with the team and was welcome to hang out with them anytime, he had started to spend more and more of his time back with Dr.Pym and Hope. Steve was happy for Scott, of course, but he worried about the effect Scott’s distance would have on the rest of the team, who had all struggled with their own homecomings.

  
Clint is eyeing him with relief when him and Sam reach the group. Steve gives the group a small smile. “Hey, guys.”

  
Clint, like Sam had earlier, claps Steve on the shoulder. “Oh thank god, Cap, how long we gotta stay at this,” Clint says, emphasizing the ‘this’ by waving his hand around.

Steve sympathizes with Clint, who, out of all of them, handled being paraded around like a show monkey the worst. The short temper and lack of patience that Clint had displayed during their time in Wakanda had eased since returning but he still had his moments.Steve considered Laura to be responsible for the change that occurred in Clint’s attitude and thanked the heavens that she hadn’t handed the archer divorce papers as soon he arrived back on their farm.Laura had been good to all of them actually-when they all stayed at the farm for a few days after being pardoned and before coming back to New York to prepare for Thanos. Laura was kind to Wanda in the same way her Husband was, and she had a rapport with Natasha that couldn’t be beat. She was gentle too, with Steve and a newly unfrozen Bucky, as if the two of them weren’t super soldiers with matching body counts. Steve adored her for that.

  
One night on the farm Steve had been sitting on the porch, thinking about New York, and the compound, and the accords, and the Avengers, and about how he was going to approach Tony upon their return, when Laura stepped out into the night. She was leaning against the door frame, looking at Steve. She’d had a bit to drink, they all had, celebrating their return. Most everybody else had retired for the night. She smiled softly at him and Steve couldn’t stop himself from asking.

  
“How’d you forgive him so easy?”

  
Laura had kept her smile and looked him in the eye when she replied.

  
“I knew what he was when I married him.”

  
She paused and Steve caught her wringing her hands together.

  
“Sometime I just wish he’d understand that it still hurts the same every time he leaves.”

  
Laura had kissed Steve on the cheek and went back inside after that. From what Natasha said, the Barton’s marriage had been a project in trust building since then. Looking at the Clint in front of him now, Steve could tell that the project was going well. Steve often wished things could be as easy with Tony, but he also understands that more damage has been done between the two of them than a few counselling sessions could heal.

  
“Man you know why we gotta do these,” Sam had replied for Steve could, only earning him a frustrated sigh from the archer.

  
Steve wished Bucky were here. Around now, he would normally throw out a joke, teasing them all for being so wound up. He could practically hear Bucky’s voice. _What do you mean, Stevie, you can’t do this all day?_ But Bucky had therapy tonight. They’d made a lot of progress in deprogramming Hydra’s brainwashing since returning, but there was still so much to work through, decades worth of broken memories that needed to be pieced back together. Steve did what he could to help, but processing his past, along with everything that had changed since he fell off the train was a lot to handle. Most days, Bucky was almost himself again, but some days, like today, the Winter Soldier was too close to erase.

  
The rest of them team felt Bucky’s absence as well, if the collective lack of charm in the group was anything to go by. Since being woken up again, and fighting Thanos with them, Bucky had strived to become part of the team. They were weary of him at first, but Bucky was determined. Any friend of Steve’s was a friend of his. He’d put in time with all of them, and eventually he’d carved out a place in their ranks, and that place was being the only one besides Natasha with any social skills.

  
Scott threw his hands up in response.

  
“I don’t see what you guys are complaining about, these things are great! There’s free drinks, and a chocolate fountain! And tons of people willing to do anything to schmooze up to us!”

  
“They are trying to buy us. Is that what you like?” Wanda shot out at Scott. Steve doesn’t begrudge Scott for enjoying the perks of the job while they lasted, and neither does Wanda really. Steve knows that her anxiety for the situation is just causing Wanda to lash out. Wanda had worked hard since returning. She had worked to build her relationship with Vision back up, worked to prove that she was not dangerous to the eyes of the public, worked to accept responsibility for her part in everything that had happened-from Sokovia to Leipzig. It had been an uphill battle for her. Some days she was calmer than others. On those days she would speak fondly about Pietro and dance with Vision in the kitchen of the compound. She would laugh at Sam’s jokes and look at Steve with so much hope in her eyes that it hurt. On other days she was volatile. She would speak sharp words like she is at Scott now and hole herself up in her room. On those days Steve would knock on her door, and tell her he’s there if she needs to talk, only for her to ignore him.

  
Deciding that this was one of Wanda’s worse days, Steve made to change the subject before the conversation devolved into bickering between his teammates. Taking another sip from his glass Steve looked around the room before asking, “Has anybody seen Nat?”

  
Clint nodded his head at him. “She’s making the rounds.”

  
Steve nodded back.”Ah.”

  
Natasha was better at pr than the rest of them by miles. She was also an excellent spy. She would go around at these events dazzling possible investors, while also procuring as much information about them as she could- to be shared with the group at a later time. The publicity of the Avengers fighting and of their battle with Thanos had blown a lot of her covers, but she could still work any mark with ease, which had come in handy during their time in exile.

  
Natasha hadn’t stayed in Wakanda with them, though King T’challa, now an official member of the Avengers himself, had extended the invitation to her as well. Instead Natasha had gone deep undercover, keeping in contact with them through coded letters. She didn’t mention the details of what she had been up to in the letters, but she had come back into contact with Fury and a somehow-not-dead Coulson so Steve assumed she was still doing good work while the rest of them were out of commission.

  
When they came to the compound for the first time after being pardoned, Natasha was already waiting for them there, along with Vision, and all of their individual Accords liaisons. She’d said, “Welcome back,” hugging Clint and then Steve, only nodding at the rest of them. There was no sign of Tony or Rhodey when they returned that day. Somehow, Natasha had known (because she always knows) what Steve was thinking about. She only squeezed his arm and told Steve to _give it time._

  
Steve had appreciated the quiet stability of Natasha that day, and it was something he could use now- when he feels out of place. Events like these tended to make him feel the same way he felt when he was doing dancing propaganda tours across the country during the war. And Natasha, she has the same strength about her, the same calming presence, as Peggy did. Steve figures if his team is going to get through the rest of this shindig without incident, it might be best if Natasha were there to tie them together

  
“I’m gonna go find her, see what she’s gathered so far.”

  
With that Steve slipped away from the group, leaving his now empty glass on the nearby refreshments table. Not seeing Natasha in the ballroom, Steve assumes she probably charmed somebody into going somewhere quieter with her to talk. The outdoor exits are opened so guests can come and go as they like but the street outside is crawling with paparazzi and civilians trying to get a glance inside. The entrance to the main lobby of the hotel is blocked to stop guests from spilling over into the rest of the property. There’s only one hallway connected to the ballroom that she’d have easy access too. The hallway is blocked off, the same as the others, with a velvet rope and a rather severe looking bodyguard, but next to this one is a standing sign marked ‘V.I.P. only.’ If Natasha was looking to impress somebody into giving out details, she would’ve taken them down there.

  
Steve walks over to the guard who looks him over once and then unhooks and lifts the rope to let him pass. Captain America’s reputation does open quite a few doors these days.

  
Going forward, Steve sees a few people loitering the hall, some of them are noticeably drunk, and none of them are Natasha. He shakes his head at the sight but continues on. The hallway is shorter than Steve had expected and only appears to lead down to one more room, just past the bathrooms, that are clearly marked on the right side of the hall.

  
Steve’s hearing had picked up on the notes playing earlier but the sound had been drowned out by the ruckus of the ballroom. He can hear the sound clearly now, though. Reaching the entrance of the room, two heavy glass doors held open with stoppers, Steve paused. He can hear the singing distinctly now. Soft, and melodic- in what Steve thinks might be italian. From here he can see Tony, on the stool in front of the piano, his hands moving across the keys.

  
He can’t bring himself to move any further into the room. Tony’s back is to him as he plays, and Steve realizes that they are probably in the hotel’s private showroom. The room is most likely used more often for business meetings and small engagements, but seems to have been done up for the night, looking as glamorous and slick as the main ballroom despite containing far less people.

  
It made sense that Tony would be here. Iron Man was an Avenger, and S.I. was prominent in the business world.Steve just hadn’t expected to see him here. Tony had so much publicity to start with that he normally got away with not attending, and when Tony did attend, he stayed close to Rhodey and was only present just long enough for some photographer to get a group shot of them.

  
Steve knew Tony could play, of course he did. It’s a move Tony used to pull at any chance. He would show off with exuberant romantic pieces (Most of which Steve later came to recognize as Tony’s own take on Frank Sinatra, and only because Sam told him as much) and wink at any woman in the vicinity. What Tony was playing now was softer, and more intimate. It is something Steve hasn’t seen before. There’s only about fifteen people in the room, and Tony isn’t playing for their attention-instead allowing the music act as background music while the rest of the room moved-different parties conversing amongst themselves in their own corners.

  
The music stops and Steve thinks he may be the only one who notices. Pepper is now blocking his view of Tony, looking as beautiful as ever in an elegant black dress.She’d put her hand on the engineer’s shoulder’s and Tony had stopped playing to look up at her. He seems so gentle now, looking so sweetly up at Pepper, his right hand reaching across to meet her left hand on his shoulder. He does not look at all like the man Steve had faced in Siberia.

  
Steve can’t see Pepper’s face but he can see when she leans down to place a kiss where Tony’s hand lays over her own.

  
“Happy’s waiting outside for us,” She says, “Rhodey and Peter are already in the car.”

  
Tony stands to leave and grabs his suit jacket from where it had been lying on the bench next him. He shrugs the jacket on but before going turns and points to the side at somebody who Steve can’t make out from where he’s standing.

  
“Hank! I trust I’ll be seeing you in the lab soon?” Tony says, with all of his old charm slipping back into place. The man in question stands to meet Tony in a quick hug and Steve is confused by the realization that the Hank he is looking at is Hank Pym. Based on what Scott told them, Steve didn’t think that Dr.Pym and Tony would be meeting each other on friendly terms, let alone hugging.

  
“Of course, Anthony, who else is going to free Dr.Banner from your company?”

  
If Steve was surprised by Tony and Dr.Pym’s association with one another, he is even more surprised by the mention of Bruce. When Thor had come back to help them defeat Thanos, he had brought Loki and Bruce with him- solving the question of where the doctor had been hiding since the Ultron fiasco. The Hulk had played a big part in defeating Thanos, and Bruce had celebrated with the rest of team post victory. Steve remembers how good everything had been then,The post battle high had been ringing in him as he watched the whole team, every member, new and old, eating and laughing together,while crammed in the communal room of the compound. In a way it had reminded him of the battle of New York, of eating Shawarma for the first time and knowing they had saved the world together. The Avengers had survived another threat and come out stronger than ever. That was the first time Steve truly believed that they had a chance of repairing the massive rift that had split the team apart, but Bruce had made himself scarce since then, and so had Tony. Finding out that the two still spent time together was surprising, but it was also a comfort, and did well to ease some of the worry Steve carried around for both of them. At least they could look out for each other, even if neither of them were ready to open themselves back up to the team yet.

  
Before Steve knew it, Tony was grabbing Pepper’s hand and heading out the door, with one last call from Dr.Pym to keep in touch. There’s a part of him that wants to call out to Tony, to reach for him before he leaves, but he knows that catching Tony off guard won’t end well. They’ve only seen each other a handful of times since Thanos, and each time was a heavily planned Avengers publicity event. Steve had tried to catch Tony after those events too, but everytime he tried to speak to Tony the words caught in his throat, and with Tony holding onto his press smile so tightly, he struggled thinking that no matter what move he makes, it will be the wrong one. Instead, the two them had awkward, jilted conversations about the weather, and when that was done, let the silence choke them.

  
“Maria taught him, you know.”

  
Steve bristled. Hank Pym was now staring directly at him, leaning against the piano Tony had just been at. He gestured his hand, and Steve took it as an invitation to come further into the room.

  
“To play?”

  
“Well, yes, that too. But I was referring to the language. He spoke Italian fluently before he ever learned English.”

  
Hank is giving him space to react, but he doesn’t know what to say to that. Thoughts of Howard and Maria were so painful now, every single one inevitably leading back to Siberia. To Bucky’s hand wrapped around Howard’s throat, to Tony’s face watching his parents being brutally murdered, to _Don’t bullshit me Rogers._ There was a time when Howard was entangled with his thoughts of Peggy, with the good times before the ice, but it felt wrong to touch those memories now. He wonders how much worse it is for Tony. Twenty one full years of his life so infected with pain now that he can barely stand to remember them.

When he doesn’t respond, Hank continues.

  
“I had my issues with Howard, as I’m sure you know,” he says with a scowl, hands tightening where they’re holding onto the edge of the piano. He doesn’t sound angry, at least not that Steve can hear, but Steve recognizes the careful restraint being put in by Dr.Pym to not insult Howard. It’s the same way Tony would speak about Howard, with the same edge in his voice that spoke of underlying resentment. Howard just had that effect on people.

  
Hank uncurls his hands, and moves to sit on the piano bench, still not taking his eyes away from Steve.

  
“But Maria…” He gives a small smile at this, “Maria had been a dream.”

  
At this Steve finds himself wondering. Tony had never spoken about Maria, and Steve had understood it as a subject not to be pushed with the engineer. Then, when he had found out about Bucky, when he had just enough information to piece together what had really happened to Howard and Maria, he just couldn’t bring himself to tell Tony. His quest to find Bucky had left him occupied most of time, and when he did see Tony (who had finally begun smiling at them earnestly again, after all the wreck that Ultron had caused), he knew that this information would only serve to reopen a wound that Tony had already worked so hard to close. In the end, keeping the truth of his parent’s death from Tony had only hurt him more.

  
“What was she like?” Steve asks, and he finds that he genuinely wants to know.

  
Hank considers this for a moment, and then laughs, “She was a lot like Tony.”

  
At Steve’s confused expression, Hank just shakes his head,” I know, I know, everybody thinks he got it all from Howard.”

  
Steve doesn’t disagree. He used to think that he could trace so much of Tony back to Howard. His genius screamed of Howard. Tony’s showmanship and his devil may care attitude were of the same brand that Steve had encountered for the first time in 1943 at the first Stark Expo.

  
“Howard was brilliant, sure, but he lacked the passion necessary for real innovation. That’s the real reason Tony’s outdone him in every respect. He may have Howard’s brain, but he also has Maria’s heart, and god knows that’s all fire.”

  
He thinks of Tony, down in his lab. Steve hadn’t been in there often, still overwhelmed by what modern technology had to offer and not ever really having a reason to visit, but there was still something about how Tony was with his bots. The way Tony treats his bots like children. The way he speaks to Friday. The look on Tony’s face when he talks about something he’s made, like he knows he’s pushed the boundaries of something farther than anyone else has ever thought of before. It’s something Steve had admired about Tony, up until Ultron. Now he can’t help but think that even Ultron, as misguided as it was, had been a project of love.

  
“Maria had been half Howard’s age when they’d married. She’d partied her way through Yale and then married a notorious playboy, knowing full well that it would piss her parents off. Tell me who that reminds you of, Captain.”

  
He knew it was a rhetorical question, but Steve nodded anyways,”Sounds just like something he would do.”

  
“She was Italian, like Howard, and proud. She always called Tony _Antonio_ , and let him get away with far more than Howard did, not that Howard ever paid him any mind of course. She was a busy woman herself, you know, she ran countless charities, but she’d always made time for Tony. She’d adored her son, and he returned the favor. They were very close, the two of them, even when he was sent away to boarding school, and then MIT that didn’t falter. Howard always thought they were conspiring against him, that she was too lenient with Tony. She never liked how Howard treated their son, and she never hesitated to tell him as much. You should’ve seen Howard’s face when Maria would tell him off, God what a site that was…”

  
Dr.Pym is trailing off now. He looks far away, smiling fondly at nothing in particular before he catches himself.

  
“She cared so much though, Maria. She’d cared about the orphans, and the homeless, and the spread of disease. Maria always thought she could save everyone if she tried hard enough.”

  
Dr.Pym let out a sigh and Steve thought of Tony, back in the Tower, _I see a suit of armor around the world._ And then in Leipzig, _I’m trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart._ For all his faults, Tony’s heart was always in the right place. It was so easy to forget that, sometimes, when the man hid behind so much bravado.

  
“I think that’s why she married Howard too. She loved him, I’m sure of that, but some part of her always thought she could save him from himself. In some ways she succeeded.But...Howard was Howard. There were some things about him that would never change. She never stopped trying though, and neither has Tony for that matter. He’s spent so much time trying to reconcile the Howard he knew with the one the rest of the world knew. He thinks it’s some problem he can solve if he just works hard enough on it. I’ve tried to tell him, myself, that Howard was just an ass, plain and simple, but he never quite believes me.”

  
_Of course he doesn’t,_ Steve wants to say. He knows Tony, and if the man doesn’t want to be told something, then he won’t be told it. He has a stubborn streak to rival Steve’s own. In his worse moments he blames that on what went down in Siberia. He’d tried so hard to reach Tony after the fact. _It wasn’t him Tony, he was brainwashed, you don’t understand._ But Tony wouldn’t hear it. He’d been so angry with Tony afterwards, for going after Bucky, for forcing Steve to fight him. Wakanda had given him time to think, though. He stood by his opposition of the Accords. The original document was a slippery slope that could easily be abused, and his teams resistance to it had been instrumental in adding the amendments in. But he can’t blame Tony for what happened in Siberia.

  
Tony had been unstable since before Ultron, and had steadily been getting worse. He knew from Natasha that Pepper was trying to force Tony into therapy before they broke up. One look at the man told anybody looking that he wasn’t sleeping. He was regularly having what Sam later named as panic attacks. Zemo had just tipped an iceberg, and Steve had given him the opening to do it. But he had been compromised too.

  
His search for Bucky had been so all consuming. Bucky was his best friend, the only person who had always been there for him, _I’m with you till the end of line._ It was Bucky, who had called him a punk, but never questioned him when he started a fight. It was Bucky, his last connection to his old life, the only other person who could understand what it’s like to wake up seventy years later in a completely different world. At some point, Steve’s priorities had shifted. He’d looked at Tony, and made a risk assessment. It wasn’t about sparing Tony’s feelings anymore, it was about protecting Bucky. He’d made his choice and left Tony with the wreckage of it.

  
When he sent the phone and the letter to Tony, he’d meant every word that he’d written. He regretted not telling Tony about his parents. Tony deserved better than the mistrust and doubt Steve had treated him with at the time. He just hoped that Tony could understand, even if he wasn’t ready to forgive. When the phone finally rang, he thought that maybe Tony was ready to meet him halfway, but the call had been short and curt. _Big space_ _army is coming. You’re all pardoned. They’ll brief you on the jet._ And that had been it. They’d spent a few days at the Barton’s farm, and then returned to the compound to spend every waking minute preparing for Thanos. Steve was given his shield back and Bucky was given a new arm. At the time,he thought it’d been done out of necessity, but Tony had never tried to claim the items back. Thinking on it now, a lot of research and work had to go into making Bucky a new arm. Steve didn’t know much about prosthetics, but he knew they weren’t Tony’s field, and he knew that the arm Hydra had given Bucky had been far advanced. To have made an arm better than Hydra’s, Tony had to have been working on it long before Thor had dropped down to warn them about Thanos, before Tony had called them back. He wonders now, if it had actually been Tony asking for his own forgiveness, in the only way he knows how to.

  
“Why are you telling me this, Dr.Pym?”

  
To Hank Pym’s credit, he doesn’t look shocked by the question.

  
“Because you’re willing to listen, Captain Rogers. I let my fear of talking to my daughter about her mother’s death fester for so long that it nearly ruined our relationship irreparably.”

  
Dr.Pym began stood up and began walking closer to Steve, brushing his hands down the sides of his suit jacket to straighten it out.

  
“You’re a brave man, Captain Rogers. I expect you to act like it. You know where to find him and if not, he’s only one call away.”

  
With that, he walks out the door.

  
Steve calls after him, “Good night, Dr.Pym.”

  
He knows the scientist heard him when he get’s the response, “To you too, Captain.”

  
Steve leans back against the door, and wonders if he should attempt to find Natasha again, or if she would’ve returned to the main ballroom by now. He decides that it doesn’t matter either way. He has a call to make.


End file.
